Travelling Concepts.net

We invite you to explore and develop contemporary feminist ideas with us.

This site represents work on key concepts used in feminist teaching and learning by the group ‘Travelling Concepts’, which was part of Athena 2 thematic network in women’s studies.

The material you’ll find on the site is the work of 26 feminists from fourteen European locations - listed on the right.

Between 2003 and 2005 the group published two sets of texts: the papers you will find on this website and four print booklets.

What is meant by 'travelling concepts'?

This is the recognition that ideas or 'concepts' alter their meaning depending on where they are used and by whom. It is these differences that we are interested in highlighting and discussing. We believe this work is crucial for the continued development of feminist research and teaching, because without such attention feminism will only represent ideas from dominant cultures, with other perspectives being 'added on' without affecting the core concept. We have focused on thirty-three concepts, from notions of migration to theories of identity or care. These concepts are all situated, by one or more of our writers, in a home country or discipline. Their ideas therefore take on an everyday and located meaning that shifts between boundaries and challenges any easy 'definition'.

What you might use the site for

Members of travelling concepts and colleagues have used the site for teaching and research purposes. We have encouraged students to look at the site and discuss the implications of this kind of knowledge work in class. Some of us have also asked students and colleagues to respond to the site by writing concept pieces from their own locations, or by giving us feedback on the site.

While we expect the site to be of most use to students and teachers of women's and gender studies, we warmly welcome everyone who is interested in feminism to explore the site, pass on the link, use it in your work, and send us any feedback (including additional discussion of concepts).

Please send comments to the editors of the site:
Clare Hemmings at c.hemmings@lse.ac.uk
or Ann Kaloski at eakn1@york.a.cuk.

We’re hoping to add feedback to the site in due course, but that depends on you!

Want to know more?

· If you'd like more details about the whole project, please read the Introduction.

· If you'd like more information about the contributors, scroll through their biographical information via the right hand menu on this homepage.

· To read the papers that are the core of this website, go to the Concepts page.

· For details of the four accompanying booklets visit Raw Nerve Books.

· To find out more about the group's continuing work on the praxis and theory of conceptual travels within Europe, see Athena 3.

We hope you like our images. The original photos that form the basis of these designs were taken in some of the different locations that the group met. To see our small gallery, click here

This website was made possible through the hard collaborative work of the following organisations, groups and individuals: The Travelling Concepts group, The London School of Economics (with a special thank you to the Centre for Learning Technology), Raw Nerve Books, and Josephine Wilson (original Travelling Concepts webmistress).